Pharmaceutical companies in Uruguay shared their best practices for improving the industry.

Uruguay XXI, the agency that promotes investment, exports, and country brand, held its fourth edition of Best Practices in Pharma Supply Chain, the benchmark event for the pharmaceutical industry in the region.

The conference aims to generate an increasingly attractive business environment for investment in Uruguay. Held by the Uruguay Pharma HUB Group, comprised of the international companies: Adium Pharma, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, GSK, MegaLabs, Merck, Pfizer, and Roche. All are leaders in the pharmaceutical industry with logistics and supply chain operations in Uruguay. The public sector, represented by Uruguay XXI and the National Institute of Logistics (known in Spanish as INALOG), works alongside this group.

The event brought together over 200 prominent national and international industry experts. It provided the opportunity to learn about the advantages and challenges that Uruguay presents as a logistics hub for the pharmaceutical industry, as well as to discuss topics such as supply chain leadership, safety and traceability in the logistics chain, cold chain control and sustainability in the distribution chain, among others.

“Our role is to promote investment in the country and encourage the exchange between companies. Together, we can highlight Uruguay as a logistics hub and a country with legal, political, economic, and social stability - aspects investors highly appreciate when we ask them why they are here,” said Sebastián Risso, the executive director of Uruguay XXI in his welcoming remarks.
Risso added that these are essential assets for logistics operations and delicate products like those in the pharmaceutical sector. He points out that the infrastructure and over 30 years of regulations related to state policies, such as the free port and airport regimes, free trade zones, and temporary entry, all provide confidence to foreign investors.

lvaro Olazábal, INALOG’s president, said, “The pharmaceutical sector in Uruguay is in great coordination and integration, which boots the entire logistics sector.” 

“In Uruguay, the industry has been able to make good use of the promotional mechanisms it operates within different logistics platforms to provide services to the region,” he said.

On behalf of the Uruguay Pharma Hub Group, Gabriela Brancato, Managing Director of Merck Uruguay, pointed out that networking at the Best Practices in Pharma Supply Chain is valuable for each company to be able to think beyond what they are doing individually. “Let’s continuously build a better Uruguay to foster investments and make our activities more visible to the rest of the world,” she said..

Why a hub in Uruguay

The day’s first panel addressed the advantages Uruguay offered as a logistics hub for the pharmaceutical sector. This panel included: Alejandra Silveira (International Logistic Manager for AstraZeneca Uruguay HUB); Analía Pazos (Logistics and Purchasing Manager for Roche); Federico González (Logistics Operations Manager for Adium Pharma); and Antonio Bouzada (President of Eriochem).

The speakers highlighted Uruguay’s favorable geographical location as a gateway to the region and its proximity to major markets like Brazil and Argentina. Among other fundamental factors that attract multinationals, they underscored the country’s political, social, and economic stability, as well as its legal regulations and skilled labor workforce.

Other significant features mentioned were the easy access to and open dialogue with authorities, other companies, and operators in the sector, as well as the tax advantages. “This context allows us to keep investing here. We are finalizing an investment to expand our facilities in Uruguay to have more capacity to transform products,” said the Logistics Operations Manager for Adium Pharma. This company has been operating in the country for 30 years and has relocated its headquarters to Uruguay, where it manages all of its Latin American operations.

Uruguay’s Best Practices in Pharma Supply Chain continued with other outstanding panels such as the presentation “Leadership in Supply Chain,” delivered by Merck representatives Esteban Poyer and Reinaldo Landaeta via videoconference from the United States, and the panel on “Safety in the logistics chain” by Natalia Karslian (Head of Logistics for Roche Mexico) and Germán Bunger (Head of Safety for South America at Boehringer Ingelheim).

Diego Dagotto and Johana Molina from Pfizer gave a presentation on “Circular process in the last mile through the use of reusable systems.” They provided as an example the implementation that Pfizer is carrying out, and other companies in the industry could replicate that.

This event is made possible due to the support of our platinum sponsors Zona Franca Parque de las Ciencias, Latin America Cargo City, Zonamerica, and Va-Q-Tec. We are also grateful for the help of the companies Bolloré, Cold Chain Technology, DHL, Blademar Logistics, Inzol, Zor Syndio, Costa Logística, and Nowports.